Tarte Flambée or Flammekueche; Alsace’s Signature Slow Fast Food.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


 
Cooking inside the oven at the Taverne de l’Ackerland
Tarte Flambée is also known as Flammekueche or Flammen Kuechen


The traditional tarte flambée or flammekueche
   
Tarte flambées, locally mostly called flammekueche have been made in the Alsace for at least one hundr ed years. International tourism’s enormous growth than began some seventy or so years ago brought this family dish into local restaurants. The tarte is a rolled out, very thin, pâte à pain, bread dough, covered with crème fraîche and a soft white cheese, usually a local cheese called bibeleskaes. Over the cheese are spread thinly sliced onions and lardons, (smoked or fried bacon bits), and then all will be baked in a wood-burning oven for about ten minutes and served.
       
A tarte flambée.
www.flickr.com/photos/nicestalan/4535793428/
   
Public demand from tourists, including French tourists, have changed the size of the portions.  Most restaurants now offer tarte flambées, in both small and large sizes. The small size makes an excellent entrée, the French first course, or together with a salad a light lunch. A large tarte flambée will be the plat, the French main course. Dessert versions have also been created, and a dessert tarte flambée comes with fruit, often with a taste of a strong eau-de vie, a fruit brandy, while some may have ice cream added just before serving.  Tarte flambée, the French name, remains the name most often used in English as there is no other accepted English name. Menus may offer Tarte Flambée Salée, savory or Sucrée, sweet versions. The options are endless, but a few of the favorites are noted below:
     
Tarte flambée on French menus.
                                   
Tarte Flambée Classic or Nature, Traditionnelle or à l’Ancienne -   All these names indicate a tarte flambée made with the traditional recipe. A very thin, pâte à pain, that’s bread dough, is covered with crème fraîche and a soft white cheese usually a local cheese called bibeleskaes. Over the cheese are spread thinly sliced onions and lardons, (smoked or fried bacon bits).
    
Tarte Flambée au Magret de Canard Fumé  - A traditional tarte flambée with added slices of smoked duck breast.
  
Tartes Flambées au Feu de Bois - Tarte flambées cooked in a traditional wood-burning oven.

The menu.

Tarte Flambée aux Bananes Flambée au Rhum – A banana dessert tarte flambéed with rum.  A dessert Tarte Flambée flambéed with rum. Dessert versions of tarte flambée like this one were created much later than the traditional versions when tourists arrived with a taste for restaurant theatre.  The tarte flambée dessert versions now often include a brandy or an eau-de-vie, which will be, flambéed,  set alight in front of the diner; shades of Crepe Suzette!

La Tarte Flambée aux Pommes, Flambée à l'Alcool de Quetsches –  An apple, dessert tart, flambéed with the plum eau-de-vie, brandy,  made from the Alsace and Lorraine's famous quetsche plums.  Like all other plums this plumb’s origin is Asian, and like many other French fruits reached France, Germany, Spain and the UK with the Romans.  The quetsche plum is, in fact, a German cross and in Germany is called a Zwetsche.

A dessert pear tarte flambée.
www.flickr.com/photos/15472273@N07/29822040700/

For the citizens of the regions of Alsace and Lorraine, the quetsche plum is a native son. The quetche is a mauve to almost black plum has fragrant and sweet yellow flesh; it is oval shaped with nearly pointed ends; its nearest UK relation is the damson plum which is not as sweet.  In season, these plums are on sale all over France, and out of season, you may request, for a digestif, the 40% alcohol quetsche eau-de vie.
   
A Gisselbrecht quetsche eau-de-vie

Tarte Flambée: Formule à Partir de 6 Personnes par  Table: Tartes Flambées à Volonté Salée, Sucrée et Salade à Volonté - An all you can eat option of sweet and savory Tarte Flambés accompanied by mixed green salads. With the addition of a couple of bottles of Alsace white wines  who could ask for anything more!   N.B. The salads served with tarte flambées are usually small. so unless noted on the menu, do not expect too much..
        
Tarte Flambée Gratinée à l'Emmental/ Gruyère/Munster,  Salade Verte Mélangée (Supplément par Personne) –  A traditional tarte flambée baked with added French Emmental, Gruyere or Munster cheese. A mixed green salad is offered with a per person surcharge.
Tarte Flambée Forestière
A traditional tarte flambée with added Champignons de Paris
www.flickr.com/photos/near_fantastica/3572534526/
   
Tarte Flambée Moitié/Moitié ... C'est vous qui Composez  - Moitié-moitié means half and half; and no, this tarte flambé is not made with that American coffee cream!  Here, moitié-moitié is on the menu for a tarte flambée made to your order with two different additions. Moitié-moitié is also what you say, in parts of France, when you ask for two different dishes to be split between two diners; each diner will have one half of the other's meal.
    
The wine to accompany your tarte flambée.
   
Order Alsatian wine with your tarte flambée, and you may enjoy the perfect light Alsatian lunch or dinner. Choose a white two or, at most, three-year-old semi-dry Alsatian Gewürztraminer or a white semi-dry Alsatian Pinot Gris, and you will not regret it as the Alsace has some of the best white wines in France.
     
The traditional wine glass used for Alsatian wines.
www.flickr.com/photos/toolongtobepractical/15084628166/
        
The history of the tarte flambée.
    
Some guide books call a tarte flambée an Alsatian pizza; however, those who wrote that obviously know zero about pizza and zero about tarte flambé. Tarte flambée and pizza are entirely different dishes and have different histories, different doughs, and the tarte flambée has no tomatoes and no mozzarella in its history. Making breads in wood burning ovens is
 
The Alsace together with région of the Lorraine were, over hundreds of years, ruled by France and or Germany in turn.  The result today is while the Alsace and the Lorraine are indisputably French a large percentage of the locals also speak German dialects along with perfect French.  Flammen kuechen remains one of the names for a tarte flambée in the Alsatian-German dialect called Allemand Alsacien or Elsässerditsch; in the dialect or in French the  the words mean cooked in flames.

------------------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013,2018, 2019.


Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
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Ratatouille, the essence of Provencal cuisine and Ratatouille’s Ancestor, the Bohémienne de Légumes.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Ratatouille
www.flickr.com/photos/pochove/8438320870/
  
The history and recipe of the most famous of all Provencal vegetable stews.

Ratatouille or Ratatouille Nicoise is a traditional recipe from the city of Nice in Provence, France and for at least 100 years before the movie, Ratatouille the dish was a favorite on Provencal menus. Since the movie, the original Ratatouille, or more often an adaptation of the original Ratatouille, is now on menus internationally. 
   

Remy the rat, the chef, from the movie Ratatouille
Gazing over Paris.
www.flickr.com/photos/fernandogaleano/781642430/

Ratatouille the classic recipe.
    
Ratatouille was originally called Ratatouille Nicoise and the classic recipe from NIce, was eggplants, that's aubergines in the UK, zucchinis, courgettes in the UK, onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, garlic, herbs, and olive oil. Some of the vegetables will vary with the seasons, To those ingredients, chefs may add, champignons, button mushrooms, lardons which are fried or smoked bacon bits, and occasionally eggs. Quite a number of chefs present their Ratatouille with gruyère cheese browned on top or grated and placed on the side for the diner to add to his or her taste.
    

The ingredients

Search for the restaurants with a large turnover
They will be making ratatouille  fresh every day.
The reason is the virgin olive oil. Read on
  
A tasty ratatouille can only come from the freshest vegetables, and the finishing touch is that drizzle of a tasty virgin olive oil added cold at the last moment. All virgin oils lose their unique flavor when cooked or heated in any way. French diners know the difference between a freshly made ratatouille and a warmed up ratatouille, and that final touch of an excellent virgin olive oil is a must to keep the customers coming back.

Ratatouille
There are arguments among the Ratatouille faithful as some insist that a ratatouille must be cooked while layered while others maintain the original was a mixed stew.
www.flickr.com/photos/davidmarcel/48064682718/
      
Today, many ratatouille offerings are baked, and the dish does not suffer from that change. From my experience, the tastes may be similar, but the more you pay determines if the Ratatouille is served layered; only the texture may be different. You pay for the presentation.
  
Ratatouille
www.flickr.com/photos/foodista/3405362209/

Ratatouille hot or cold? You choose.
    
Ratatouille may be served hot or cold, and that was always part of the dish's history. Ratatouille began as a main dish and only later gained popularity as a side dish. Now in a return to its origins, Ratatouille is again offered as a main dish accompanied by rice or pasta. Despite the occasional disputes ratatouille did originate in the area of Nice and is just one the many famous and popular dishes Nice has given to the rest of Provence and France. 
    
Ratatouille is so now so popular with visitors to Provence that they are offered fast-food ratatouille versions where it will be served in toasted baguettes, as a ratatouille pizza or inside a Niçoise Fougasse or Fougassette.


Bohémienne de légumes the dish that preceded Ratatouille.
  
Bohémienne de Légumes – Ratatouille's ancestor; and still on some Provencal menus is the classic Bohémienne de Legumes. Bohémienne de Legumes is a vegetable stew that only includes eggplant, aubergines in the UK, and tomatoes. As with its descendant ratatouille, a bohémienne de légumes will be fried in olive oil with garlic and herbs. Modern versions may include onions, but that is about it, as adding anything else will turn a bohémienne de légumes into its grandchild, a ratatouille!

------------------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013, 2019

--------------------------------
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or another search engine.   Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

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